Knowing How to Ask for Help

Those who become addicted to drugs or alcohol often suffer from a delusion of control. They believe that they can somehow control their drinking or partake only casually if they want. An alcoholic may try to say that they’ll only have one or two beers, but they wake up the next day with a hangover completely baffled as to why they drank all night long. The obsession to drink or use like the average person causes a person more troubles than they anticipated, so the best thing to do is to ask for help. This may be difficult though.

Surrendering to the fact that you can’t do it alone.
Addiction is a brain disease, and the word comes from a Latin term meaning “enslaved by.” Throughout the years, science has actually proven that addiction is a disease, and it’s classified as such in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. When you realize that you’re suffering from a real illness, it may be easier to come to terms with the fact that you need to ask for help. If you had a broken bone or were infected with a disease, you wouldn’t try to overcome it on your own. You should take your addiction as seriously as you would if it were any other type of illness.

Educating yourself about the disease of addiction.
This may help you in surrendering to the fact that you can’t face this issue on your own. Addiction manifests in the brain because the pleasure system is running without restraint. The pleasure system in the brain is necessary for basic human survival, but addiction makes it so the pleasure system isn’t properly kept in check by the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is what allows you to be able to understand that although an action gives you pleasure, there may be consequences that aren’t worth receiving that pleasure. This is why addiction treatment is pivotal.

Don’t be Ashamed to Ask for Help
Living a life with an addiction to drugs or alcohol may have caused friends and family to sever ties with you, but this doesn’t mean you can’t ask them for help. More often than not, loved ones have to distance themselves from an addict because it’s far too difficult to watch someone self-destruct like that. There are also occasions where the addict’s overwhelming obsession and craving to use has caused him or her to do harm to the people they love. If you’ve reached the point where you realize that you need help, don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask your loved ones for assistance. Those who truly care about you will do whatever they can to help you get sober.

Talk to an Addiction Specialist
It’s important to reach out to accredited treatment facilities like Hotel California by the Sea to get the treatment you need. Talking to an Addiction Specialist is one of the first steps in the process. Without seeking the right help or information from loved ones and professionals, you risk losing your best chances for sobriety.